Overwatch has just answered players prayers

By Kyle Sutherland

To the delight of old school players, Blizzard have brought back a temporary “Overwatch Classic” event which has retuned the gameplay state to that of 2016. 

Image: Overwatch Funko Pops in front of game screen (Kyle Sutherland)

Overwatch is an online team-based shooter game, originally released in 2016 by Blizzard. The lore driven game has done well to survive and adapt over the years with the original Overwatch having a peak player count of over 50 million, it was highly popular between 2017 and 2019 especially but once interest started to decline  especially since the release of Overwatch 2 – despite the release peaking at around 25 million players in 2022, it is now estimated only around 500 thousand players hop on daily. They scrambled to look for ways to keep people coming back, and while it worked with some, it ultimately wasn't enough. Blizzard spent years selling us on Overwatch 2, this amazing sequel that will be full of story and hero progression, and for so long we believed them but when it came to release it wasn't anywhere near what was proposed with no story or hero progression. Even when these were implemented, they were a far cry from the original promise.

 In retaliation, recently Blizzard have decided to take a page out of Fortnite’s book. Fortnite saw success over the last year with incorporation of “OG” game modes and remixes of older seasons which helped their player base shoot back up with a peak of 44.7 million players, while also being able to make money through a mini battle pass and shop items. Not only is this mode helping older gamers relive the past but it also could be a good chance for the Overwatch developers to find out what the community wants back, such as the classic 6v6 – which got changed to a controversial 5v5 at the launch of the sequel. 

Image: Overwatch Classic screenshot (Blizzard Entertainment)

It’s no doubt that Overwatch 2 has struggled to hit the peaks of the original game. It doesn’t matter whether you look at the major character reworks or the smaller details, the game lacks a pull factor which happened when they traded out loot boxes for battle pass progression or changed characters gameplay so much that it leaves you wishing you had a Time Machine. There will never be a period that can match those sleepless nights trying to rank up then inevitably getting frustrated when it goes south- but you keep playing because deep down its so much fun. Even the days off school playing both casually and competitive, trying to get gold weapons, opening event loot boxes in hopes of being lucky and bursting with excitement when you see a legendary. It was truly an unbeatable time in what was a great period for gaming. Unfortunately, as with every game, time brings change and if I were to list every bad or arguable change this would go from a short article to an entire book, but thankfully I'm not the only one who misses even just simple features alongside the bigger ones. 

I asked on the Overwatch Subreddit and the responses were certainly ranging. One user explained in detail about how they miss when the hero Doomfist was a damage hero as opposed to the tank he is now. There was also a discussion among users over the usage of sprays with one claiming that he doesn't really see anyone use them anymore. The reply I agree with most however is definitely the Winston opening. Something about a gorilla angrily exclaiming that the world still needs heroes hits the nostalgia heartstrings. It's safe to say it was definitely a case of not knowing what you've had till it's gone.

Image: Reddit response about usage of sprays in-game (Overwatch Subreddit)

The limited time event had an impact on the game with both playing and viewing seeing numbers rising on all fronts. On the first day on Twitch viewership peaked at 104 thousand, with popular YouTubers like Stylosa making videos on it. 

 Only time will tell if Classic truly boosts the community back to life given there is still backlash over many micro-transactions and expensive cosmetics, but it's certainly had its instant impact with Twitter/X being in a craze over it – good and bad. As someone who played since beta its humorous to see more recent players angry over changes like the fact Meis ability to freeze opponents feels like it can hit you from anywhere or mistakes such as D.Va player accidentally blowing themselves up and while there are some imbalances with time being reverted - like Roadhog being totally OP – these were things we all loved at launch. Opinions can fly around but nothing will ever be able to beat a defensive set up on point one of Hanamura (both for nostalgia and literally) and I'm personally looking forward to that old school 6-turret Symmetra, corner camping Bastion and armour throwing Torbjörn set-up. If you know Overwatch, you’ll feel both horror and nostalgia at that sentence. 

 While it would've been cool to have the 2018/2019 version of the game which I feel was the best flowing balance-wise compared to the launch version, I’m excited to jump back into Overwatch Classic and I know many others are. Even if it’s unbalanced, rage inducing and in places broken - it has an undeniable charm that we’ve been searching for, a spark that faded years ago. This could definitely be a huge positive for OW and completely turn around the declining player base and open more chances for them to do similar events in future as we approach the 10-year anniversary in 2026. But this is only if Blizzard take notes and try engaging with the community rather than just use chances like this for a quick greedy money grab.